


If I Could Go Back and Save You, I Would

by ashslei



Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Coming of Age, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Life Lessons, Max is a hardcore WoW fan, WoW Junkies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-14
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-06 18:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5426492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashslei/pseuds/ashslei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Max works at a coffee shop, never gets her time powers, and is hella shy as she blunders through life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Secrets Between Junkies

  
  
_“So many people are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, if only you were interested in them."_  
_― Sylvia Plath_

* * *

 

“I really like that one,” Kate pointed out a photo on the brick wall amongst all the others.

A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth as I remembered the day I took it. My dad had brought me with on his climb of Mount St. Helens when I was sixteen. I had grumbled and moaned the entire way up, but the view at the summit ridge had been completely worth it. The shot was a view of the crater, and was very reminiscent of Ansel Adams with its high contrast and timeless black and white.

“Yeah, me too,” I sighed. “It was with my digital camera though.”

Kate snorted and rolled her eyes. “Lord help me, you are such a hipster.”

I held up my hands. _Guilty as charged._ Behind me, the soft chime of the door sounded as someone entered the shop.

“I need to go do my job,” I pouted.

“No need to apologize Max. I’d better start doing my homework anyways, or else I’ll never finish it by tonight.” Kate sighed at the thought. She turned back to her books at the corner table, and I started making my way across the slightly squeaky wooden floor. As annoying as it could be at times, it did add a certain charm to the small shop.

Speaking of homework, my own was woefully far behind. I was already bad enough at algebra and statistics even if I wasn’t avoiding my textbook by working extra hours. But at least I had spare money though, I could buy all the instant film I could possibly want.

I reached the counter and smiled again as I was greeted with another familiar face. “Hey Dana,” I spoke softly, ever shy in the presence of the popular student.

“Max! I didn’t know you worked here, if I did I would have checked it out ages ago. Cool place though, right?” She spoke energetically, despite looking like she was ready for a twenty-hour nap. Rather uncharacteristic of her; she usually looked so polished and well-kept. Instead she had slight dark circles that showed through her makeup, and her hair was a little erratic.

“I just started not too long ago.” I had, after all, only been living here for a couple months. I used to come here all the time though, back before I moved away. It was my favorite spot to hole up in and enjoy a cup of coffee or tea while listening to some music. My escape away from school, or home. It had barely changed in the years I was gone, like most of the town.

“I’ll try to not be a problem-customer then,” Dana laughed; she’s so much nicer than the other Vortex Club members. She pointed to the walls behind me. “Are those some of your photos?”

“Yeah!” My voice jumped a little louder than I expected. It sounded foreign to my ears. “My boss lets me hang them around the place, which is hella cool. He says it helps add to the atmosphere of the shop.”

“Smart guy. You did a good job, it’s really cute. If I had time I’d make you show me all of them. I’ll definitely have to come back another day.”

Right, Max, you absolute idiot. She didn’t come here to talk to you, so hurry up and do your job so you don’t inconvenience her any longer. You’re just sitting here wasting her time when she has shit to accomplish, unlike yourself.

“Uhh, so yeah, what uhh, what can I get for you then?” I spoke, trying to keep the blush from rising in my cheeks. It was a lost cause though. Maybe if I wasn’t so pale and skinny. Or maybe if I would just stop messing up...

“Oh! Um, can I get a small latte with… with whole milk? I know, I shouldn’t, but it’s a vice of mine. Don’t tell anybody?” She actually looked like she was guilty over the fact. It must be a cheerleader thing.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take your secret to the grave.” I almost winked in response as I turned to the machines beside me, but I managed to stop from embarrassing myself even further. “Anything else?”

“That should be it, thanks. The others would kill me if I brought a muffin or something.”

“You sure?” I questioned her as I started to prepare her order. “I could sneak you a half, on me, and you could eat it on your way to… wherever you’re going.”

“Oh Max, you’re too kind to me. I can’t though, I’m already drinking whole milk.”

I shrugged from where she couldn’t see me. I couldn’t see why she had to worry, she’s just as skinny as I am and that’s saying something. But what do I know though? Silence overtook us as I made myself busy. The whirling machine would have made talking difficult anyways. Grinding noises were soon replaced by dripping and woofs of steam.

“Is… is that a Horde symbol?” She spoke up hesitantly, gesturing to one of my photos behind the wall. My jaw dropped a little.

“Wait wait wait, hold on. Hold on. You know what the Horde symbol is?” _Oh my God, Dana is blushing._ I actually get to see Dana blush. Best. Day. Ever.

“Don’t tell anyone, please?” She drew out the e, looking even guiltier than when she asked for the milk.

“That Dana is a secret WoW junkie? Nope, that shit is gonna be on the front page tomorrow.” I said, feeling better about myself.

I’m not sure where this sudden bout of confidence came from. Maybe because of how open and exposed she was being with me. I could tell that this wasn’t just a little thing either, from all the embarrassment that flitted across her face. She must have either played for ages, or she got really into it.

“Oh no, please. I don’t even play anymore, I just used to. Please don’t tell anyone.”

I grinned a little sadistically. “That depends. Horde, or Alliance?”

“H-Horde? I like the blood elves, okay? They’re hot... I am so regretting this.” I couldn’t help but giggle, she actually thought I would tell someone. She should know that WoW junkies would never betray one of our own. If you do, I’m pretty sure you get excommunicated or something.

“You picked right, so you can keep your secret for now.” I got a relieved sigh while I placed her finished drink on the counter. “What did you play though, can I ask?”

She smiled. “I can’t believe I’m talking about this, but, a priest. Shadow, mostly. I played right until the start of Mists. You?”

“You ended on Cata? That sucks, it was the worst expansion. But me too on the priest thing! I was disc though, since holy is worse than useless and my guild needed a healer. Shields for days...”

Dana laughed as she picked up her drink, looking calmer but still a little pink in her cheeks. “Listen Max, it’s been great talking to you and we’ll have to pick up this conversation again soon, but I really need to jet. I’m gonna be setting up a movie night in my room soon though, you should join us.”

I hesitated a little. Being around a lot of people is really nerve-wracking for me, but I know I should really try to branch out and talk to people more. Isn’t that one of the reasons I came back? And besides, Dana is nice to me. I doubt she would surround me with people who hate my hipster guts.

“Yeah, yeah sure. I’d love to.” I spoke up after a moment.

“Great!” She replied. “I’ll let you know more when I figure it out. Gotta run though, thanks for the coffee Max!”

She backpedalled out of the room, the jingling door the only remainder of her presence. I felt a little rejuvenated from the energy she brought with her. Afternoons were always the slowest part of the day here since people were still at work or school, but the image of Dana’s embarrassed grin kept me going for a while longer. I was still patiently waiting at the counter until the next customer arrived a half-hour later, and I greeted him with a smile on my face.


	2. Life of a Raider

* * *

   
_“We live as we dream--alone....”  
__― Joseph Conrad_

 

“MaaAAAaaax,” a tinny voice called out through vent.  
  
 _Almost there_ , I thought to myself. Stupid me, I had been staring blankly at my homework for the past hour zoning out and I had entirely forgotten about raid night. I guess they killed the first boss without me, which I didn’t mind much. It’s not like I needed anything from him. I was just embarrassed about being late.  
  
“Ten DKP minus.” Someone else joked.  
  
“Okay guys,” our raid leader called out. I willed my character to move faster. “Horridon is easymode for us, let’s try to not have a repeat of last week again.”  
  
“I’m blaming Rakhac for that.”  
  
“Hey c’mon.”  
  
“No that was totally your fault,” several other people chimed in.  
  
Rak was our other main healer, which made my life harder. He could pump out some decent raw numbers as a holy pally, but he was always standing in shit. He was also a little annoying at times, but we put up with it because he’s my cousin’s best friend. But I swear, if he says titties one more time…  
  
“Okay, I’m here,” I called out in my meager voice.  
  
Silence.  
  
“Oh my God. Max?”  
  
“What?” My stomach shifted a little.  
  
“We’re lucky tonight, boys. The great Maximus has decided to bless us with her voice. We are sure to go far and plunder glorious loot!”  
  
“Oh come on,” I snorted. Were they ever going to stop teasing me about this? “I talk. Not a lot, but I still talk.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah. You’ve gotten better over time. Can we get buffs and feast people?” Our leader called out again. So serious. Several symbols flashed over my head as people started preparing. I downed a few noggenfogger elixirs until I became my usual cute widdle skellyton. It didn’t give me any benefit, but I liked to pretend it did. They were some old thing made back in vanilla from a quest in Tanaris, so most people didn’t even know it existed anymore. Such unique, very hipster, wow.  
  
“Okay. Hunters please misdirect, or at least wait a few seconds so the tanks can get into position. Nobody mess up with the charge. Can we get our shadow priest to mass dispel this time? Rak, move out of the fucking sand this time you douche. Don’t hit the boss too much before the fourth door goes down. Lust when War God Dude comes down, and not before. And please, for the love of God, remember to click the goddamn orb... We ready?”  
  
Somewhere behind me I heard someone lightly knock on my door. A series of giggles followed it, and then a shushing sound. I turned the volume of my speakers down a notch. _At least my door is locked this time._  
  
A ready check popped up on my screen, and I clicked the green checkmark. A few moments passed, until…  
  
“Okay, Hunters! Just… just pull whenever I guess.”  
  
Characters started moving on my screen. A bulls-eye appeared over one of them. I popped my shields on the tanks and moved back to where the rest of the ranged were sitting. The big dinosaur boss promptly started to move across the room towards us.  
  
It wasn’t an overly hard fight, especially once you got the mechanics down. There’s just a lot going on at times which can make it a little chaotic. A large mistake would tend to snowball into something even larger. But it was still one of my favorites just because disc priests could cheese it. The boss took 50% extra damage for each door down, which made my atonement do crazy healing in the later stages. But even 200% extra atonement healing couldn’t save the group when our other healer kept dying.  
  
The boss slammed into the first door, signalling the next phase. Ranged started moving in the direction of the second door.  
  
“Can someone kill that last add please? Also, good job Rak. Keep it up.” Someone snorted, and I heard Rak sigh.  
  
I giggled a little at their teasing. As annoying as they could be at times, I loved them all. They were my second family, even if I hadn’t met a couple of them in real life. They took some of the edge off of my loneliness. It wasn’t a perfect solution… but it was a good substitute.  
  
Speaking of loneliness, today had been particularly hard. Kate was working on some project with a local church and I hadn’t seen her in a couple days. She didn’t even show up to the coffee shop to do her homework. Warren was holed up tonight studying for some big chemistry exam so he could keep his 4.0. Dana was… well I dunno. I didn’t want to be a bother. I was still too shy around her. I belatedly wondered if she would enjoy watching us raid, just to see how the game had changed in the past year or so. _Max, she might have played before, but she’s not a gigantic dweeb like you are._  
  
The brief thought of someone from ages ago passed through my mind before I tried clearing my head with a shake. _Need to focus right now._   
  
My speakers crackled a little as someone’s mic turned on.  
  
“H-hey Dan,” *snort* “Remember that time Max drowned you in ToES?”  
  
“YES I REMEMBER YOU PRAT STOP REMINDING ME.” Our leader shouted loud enough that I wasn’t completely sure if he was seriously angry or just joking. “What does that even have to do with anything with this fight?”  
  
“I just wanted to make sure you remembered…”  
  
I laughed again. Yes… this was a good substitute.  
  
“Oh… oh guys, shit. I just realized. I don’t have my pet out,” someone mumbled. Oh jeez.  
  
“How… long…?” Dan was practically seething by now. I could barely even focus on the conversation though, I was too busy curing disease and trying to heal an insubordinate amount of damage.  
  
“Ummmmmm, since the start of the raid?”  
  
“GOD DAMN IT… I give up. I’m giving up on you guys. I just can’t.”  
  
I laughed even louder. Poor Dan.  
  
“At least Max is laughing now. You accomplished that at least.”  
  
Several of the characters on my screen were dead or dying by now. I wasn’t sure if it was the distraction, or a messed up mechanic, or both, but I couldn’t keep up with the damage. Finally my character collapsed to the ground beside them.  
  
“Okay guys wipe it up and let’s try again. What went wrong?”  
  
“Frost orbs…” someone piped up. “People were sitting in them.”  
  
So that’s why there was so much damage.  
  
“Mass rez incoming.”  
  
“Look at your incoming damage logs. If you’re not a tank and you’re in the top five, you need to be doing something different. Please guys, we’re supposed to be plundering loot by now.”  
  
I checked my own and was pleased to see I was second to last.  
  
“Group up. Let’s get buffs and feast and try again.”  
  
 _‘Tis the life of a raider, long and hard with plenty of wipes. But glorious loot awaits those who persist._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> High-five if you understood this. If you didn't, sorry :( I had fun writing it at least.
> 
> I wish I could say this wasn't inspired by true events.


	3. You Always Know What to Say

 

_“It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.”_   
_― Lou Holtz_

* * *

 

A heavy thud sounded above the incessant chatting and laughing of all the people surrounding me, followed closely by the shrill blast of a whistle. Turning my head, I saw that there was a large heap of sweaty men on the field and a referee frantically waving his arms around. Hell if I knew what that meant.  
  
“It’s third down,” Warren helpfully called out to me from across the bleacher stairs.  
  
“What’s a down?” I replied dourly before coming to my senses and waving off his ready explanation. “N-never mind, don’t bother. I’ll never understand this game.”  
  
My dad used to bring me to ice hockey games all the time back in Seattle, and while it was a little better than this, I mostly just went to spend quality time with him. My favorite part was getting one of those delicious blue-raspberry slushies at the snack stand.  
  
Warren shrugged and turned back to attend to his trumpet in case our team scored. Judging by the fact that he hadn’t played once yet, I figured the game was going pretty badly. Warren was in the band jointly set up with Blackwell and the local high-school. Blackwell didn’t have enough students to have their own band, as well as bunch of other things, so they were often merged together.  
  
This was the first game I had gone to, or rather that Warren had dragged me to, and to be honest I wish I had stayed home. For one reason, I hated crowds. Being around so many people made me uncomfortable and nauseous. Two, besides from Warren who wasn’t even sitting next to me, I was entirely alone. Talk about awkward. And three… well, seeing all these people here doing things and participating in things, it made me feel bad about myself.  
  
I mean, what exactly have I done since I got here? I take photos, I go to class, and I work in a coffee shop. That’s about it. I had wanted to turn a new leaf and come out of my shell a little, but it seems like I had done the exact opposite since getting here. I was lucky I even had a couple friends.  
  
But everyone else was out there doing stuff. Warren was in the band, and he was involved with creating some movie-lovers group on campus. Kate was always doing her community-service projects and her bible-study group. Even Alyssa was joining that geek girls book club.   
  
And Dana… well right now she was with the cheerleaders standing by the field in front of us. I already knew she was a cheerleader, but this was the first time I had seen her in action. The group danced and moved and waved their pom-poms with a steady, practiced precision. Dana herself was near the right edge of the group, closer to the band. I had honestly watched her more than the boys on the field.  
  
I tried imagining myself down there with her, dressed up in their uniform and dancing alongside them. But the image just looked silly. I looked dumber than that time I tripped and fell in the cafeteria right in front of Victoria and crew. For some reason it just didn’t fit. Maybe because I wasn’t a part of that clique? I wasn’t popular, but I also didn’t play a band instrument, and I wasn’t religious, and I didn’t read much fiction anymore. Was there a group for hipsters that spent all their time between work and playing WoW?  
  
Nope.  
  
I sighed and looked down at my feet. A second later there was a sound as someone sat down next to me.  
  
“Hey, Mad Max. You okay? What’s up?” Came a voice belonging to Warren. He must have abandoned his trumpet to sit next to me.  
  
“Y-yeah,” I forced out. “It’s just… I dunno, it’s dumb.”  
  
“No, it’s not. If it’s bothering you it’s not dumb. Tell me? Pleeeease?”  
  
 _Oh Warren, I don’t deserve you._   
  
“I just feel like, like I’m not accomplishing anything. Everyone else has hobbies or other interests, and I just sit in my room all the time.”  
  
“Max, that’s just plain wrong. You’re amazing.” He spoke up. Am I really, though? I couldn’t see it.   
  
“You have your photography, which you’re turning into a bomb career. Even Victoria can’t top your shit. You have the most chill guitar-playing skills of anyone I know. You’re like one of the only students smart enough to go get a job instead of doofering around, and you are like the most badass fuckin’ healer to grace the lands of Azeroth. Your guildmates are like always praising the shit out of you.”  
  
Hahaha, I’ll admit, that got a bit of a smile out of me. Warren always knew the right thing to say. He was so smart, it’s no wonder he has one of the best GPAs in our grade.  
  
“But is it bad that all those things are things I do by myself though? I feel like such a... loner.”  
  
There, that was it. I said it. One of my biggest fears, being that loser who sat in the corner by herself and didn’t fit in at all. I suddenly hated the fact that I was such a hipster wannabe, or was it that I was a hipster _because_ I didn’t fit in?  
  
“Max, there’s nothing wrong with doing things by yourself if you enjoy them. And I’ve talked to your WoW friends before, and they sound insanely cool. And funny. Just because you’re not sitting right next to them in real life doesn’t mean it’s not socialization. And besides… you have friends here too, and we always got your back.”  
  
A tear sprung up in my eye and I blinked to try and make it go away. I finally looked up from my shoes to see Warren sitting there with a comfortable smile, which I matched. I let myself fall into his waiting embrace.  
  
“You should be a therapist,” came my watery reply. “You’d make hella cash.”  
  
“Well, if the scientist thing doesn’t work out, I guess that’s always a backup plan.” I couldn’t tell if he was seriously contemplating it, but I knew he’d be successful at both.  
  
From somewhere out on a field came another shrill blast, and the crowd suddenly started cheering wildly.  
  
“Oh shit!” Warren exclaimed. “We just scored, I gotta go.”  
  
He scrambled back to his side of the stairs right before the band started playing their victory song. I smiled at his antics, and turned to watch the cheerleaders again. They were doing a new routine now, probably because of our team’s first goal, and then Dana shifted her head and looked straight into my eyes.  
  
Or at least, it seemed like she was looking right at me. Time seemed to stretch on as our eyes were locked into place, until she smiled and looked away. A second later she was focusing on her dance routine like nothing had ever even happened. Oh God, that was weird. But if it was weird, then why was I blushing? Because I was seriously hardcore blushing right now, I could feel the warmth emanating from my face in waves. Wowser.  
  
But suddenly, the idea of being around Dana and the rest of my friends didn’t seem so foreign to me anymore.

 

 


End file.
